§ MR. W. F. D. SMITH (Strand, Westminster)I beg to ask the Secre of State for the Home Department, who is responsible for fixing the sittings of the Court of Quarter Sessions for the County of London, under the Local Government Act, 1888, for the hearing 1323 of appeals under the Valuation (Metropolis) Act, 1869; could he state how many appeals are now waiting to be heard, and whether there is any prospect of an early day being appointed for taking such appeals; and, whether he is aware that appeals were entered on or before the 14th of January last which should have been heard and determined before the 31st of March last, and that great inconvenience is caused to the appellants and respondents respectively by the delay in hearing the appeals in question?
§ * SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYThe sittings of the Court of Quarter Sessions for the County of London, for the hearing of appeals under the Valuation Act, are fixed, under a scheme of the County Council approved by the Secretary of State, at the adjourned January Quarter Sessions held at Clerkenwell. I am informed that the number of appeals remaining to be heard is 94, and that next Monday has been fixed as the day for proceeding with them. It is true the sittings are required to be so arranged as to enable the Court to determine all appeals before the ensuing March 31, but the sittings cannot begin before February 1, and of the 334 appeals down for hearing this year 240 were disposed of within the required time. I have received no complaints on the subject, but I am in communication with the Clerk of the Peace on the steps that can be taken to expedite the hearing of these appeals.